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Founded to buy and build  great companies

Purpose

Our Purpose

Zeal Partners is a family-owned holding company focused on acquiring full or majority control stakes in exceptional small and medium size businesses and holding them indefinitely. We are not a private equity firm looking to maximize returns with financial engineering and short term measures nor are we a strategic buyer looking to cut costs and achieve synergies. We aim to preserve the values and culture that make a company successful and understand the importance of finding a like-minded partner that brings the same passion and zeal to your community, customers, and employees.

Who We Are

Zeal Partners is led by Kim and Adam Leitzes. We know first-hand how challenging it is to navigate the sale process for a company and approach our acquisition process with an owner-operator mindset. Kim is an experienced entrepreneur who sold her software company in late 2020. She has worked in leadership roles in the United States and Asia, with a particular focus on sales, business development, product management, and above all, inspiring incredible individuals to join her teams. Adam has over 20 years of investment experience in small and medium-size businesses across many industries.

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Kim and Adam met as undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in the year 2000 and have been working in or building small companies for their entire careers. They are based in North County San Diego and previously lived in Asia for nearly 15 years.
 

Team
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Kim Leitzes

Kim was born in Burlington, Vermont but spent her formative years in Austin, Texas. Most recently, Kim was the founder and CEO of PARKLU, a software company that pioneered how brands analyze, collaborate and manage social media influencers in China. After running the business for ten years and growing it to over 55 employees, Kim sold PARKLU in late 2020 to Launchmetrics, a global software company. As a result of her "zero to one" journey, Kim has hands-on experience across sales, marketing, product management, talent acquisition and operations.

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Prior to founding PARKLU, Kim was an executive at the fashion company Bill Blass New York and an investment banker at Financo (now Raymond James) in New York and Los Angeles.  She graduated cum laude from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Adam Leitzes

Adam was born in New York City and grew up in the Philadelphia area. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was enrolled in the Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology, a dual-degree program combining finance at The Wharton School and engineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

 

In 2008, Adam went to work directly for the famed investor Julian Robertson at his family office, Tiger Management. Four years later, Adam spun out of Tiger (with Julian’s blessing and seed capital) and launched his own investment management firm that eventually grew to over $1 billion in assets under management. Adam has spent most of his career evaluating and investing in small and medium-size businesses in a variety of sectors. He is also a published author and a former contributor to Forbes Magazine.

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Kim and Adam spend most of their free time with their children, Zoe (age 10), Everett (age 6), and Asher (age 6). Zeal Partners is named for their three kids, as well as for the energy and enthusiasm Kim and Adam bring to their business and personal endeavors.

Advantages

A Different Kind of Buyer

Selling your business to us can offer confidence that your employees, customers, and business will be in good hands. - we want to hold your business for the long term.

Zeal Partners

Private Equity

Strategic Buyer

Post-Transaction Commitment

Continue to be a family-owned business

One of many portfolio companies

One division in a larger corporation

Value Creation

Long-term, sustainable growth

Maximize short-term returns through cost cutting and financial engineering

Absorb operations and realize synergies through cost cutting

Owner’s Future

Flexible - continue running the business, full exit, or reduced role

Same or more involvement

Employee

Governance

Owners

Investors

Bureaucracy

Deal Terms

Flexible and tailored to the seller’s personal and professional needs

Typically strict, standard deal terms dictated by the fund

Least flexible in terms of deal structuring and liquidity options

Time Horizon

Long-term

3-5 years

Uncertain

Criteria

What We Look For

We understand that each business is unique, and identifying a great company is more than a simple check-the-box exercise. While we do have a flexible mandate, the below characteristics provide general guidance on the types of attributes we find most attractive in a potential acquisition.

Business Ownership

Willingness to sell a majority stake (or 100%)

Desire to see the company succeed through its next phase

Ideally a leader and management team in place to run the business, but we can discuss stepping into that role as needed

Industry Characteristics

Large and growing addressable market

Resistance to economic cycles

Industry growth greater than GDP growth

Strong barriers to entry    

Business Model

10+ years of operating history

Recurring nature of revenues

Engaged employees and strong middle-management​

High return on equity

Low maintenance CapEx requirements

Diverse, loyal customer base

History of profitability and growth

Consistent $1 - $7 million in cash flow / profits

Contact

Contact

If you are a small business owner that values passing your business into the hands of another long-term minded family, we would be thrilled to talk with you.

Discussions will be kept strictly confidential.

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